When a crushing bout of anxiety saw Brandon Wicks admitted to the Royal University Hospital’s adult mental health short stay unit last year, the nighttime routine of 9 p.m. yoga never felt like it could come soon enough.

This was when the lights were turned down in the unit creating a calm environment for Wicks to grab a mat and stretch, and calm his mind.

“I would stretch for an hour and try to focus on my breathing and meditating. It definitely grounded me and allowed me to pull myself back inside my body,” said Wicks.

This experience with yoga inspired him to start a yoga program for patients at the mental health short stay unit with the help of paramedic and owner of the Ivy Yoga House in Saskatoon, Jen Rondeau.

Brandon Wicks says he’s seen for himself how yoga can give people the time and space to ground themselves and improve their mental health. (Eric Anderson)

Taking time to ground himself

Wicks loves being active. He is a personal trainer in Saskatoon and owns Rise Strength Lab, a gym in the city’s south end. He watches his health closely, especially since he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome five years ago.

The syndrome is a rare condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. It caused temporary paralysis in Wicks’s legs and sparked what he describes as a “hyper-vigilance” in the years following his diagnosis when it came to monitoring his health.

The constant anxiety surrounding his health became too heavy a load to carry for Wicks on his own. He entered the mental health short stay unit and discovered how yoga could help with his recovery.

“I believe that go-go-go mentality is what kind of led me into the unit. I never really took the time to ground myself and bring myself down. I took that time in the unit to just really sit with my anxiety and be with myself,” said Wicks.

Jen Rondeau, pictured here at Rise Strength Lab, is a paramedic and owner of Ivy Yoga House. (Eric Anderson)

He started attending yoga classes at Ivy Yoga House after his release and shared his story with Rondeau. She not only guided Wicks through yoga classes but was an empathetic ear for his mental health struggles.

“It was all very relatable,” Rondeau said, adding she’d been through a major depression in her 20s and also had to seek medical help.

“The things Brandon was explaining about his racing thoughts and that he needed extra help brought back those thoughts when I was admitted myself.”

Giving the gift of yoga

Wicks shared an idea with Rondeau after attending one of her classes. He was grateful for the role yoga played during his stay at the hospital and wanted to give that gift back to patients.

Wicks proposed a yoga program for the mental health short stay unit that Rondeau and her staff would run and that he would fundraise for through his gym. Rondeau loved the idea and Wicks pitched the idea to Royal University Hospital’s mental health unit.

“I just felt like, as a former patient, that this would be beneficial for the people who are there struggling. The hospital staff got back to me and loved the idea,” said Wicks.

Wicks’s fundraising efforts allowed Rondeau and her staff to begin teaching one yoga class a week to patients at the mental health short stay unit for eight months beginning in May.

Teaching yoga to patients in the unit has been rewarding for Rondeau.

“There’s so much going on, and if we can take those moments in class to just pause and bring our full awareness to what is happening here and now, that’s so important,” she said.

Yoga to continue for 2 years

Rondeau is happy to see the positive impact the class is having on patients and staff in the hospital. Several nurses have shared with her how they have noticed a difference in patients after participating in a class.

“The feedback from patients who attend is great,” said Rondeau. “Some have never done yoga before, and they know they want to continue after their stay.”

The program’s success caught the attention of the Royal University Hospital Foundation. It has committed to funding the program for two years starting in January with a second yoga class being added every week.

Wicks described the news as “amazing,” knowing personally how yoga can benefit patients.

“I just knew it was needed, and when Jen brought me the news of two more years, I definitely got emotional about it.”